Ryan DePiero is a junior media and journalism major and a theatre minor here at Bloomsburg. He is the president of Bloomsburg’s chapter of the National Broadcasting Society (NBS). As president, he reaches out to and collaborates with other organizations on campus, coordinates productions, and ensures productions run smoothly.

During his time as NBS president, DePiero has greatly brought the club back to life. He has worked hard to spread the word about NBS and gain new members by putting out posters around campus, connecting with other clubs on campus to partner with them, and advertising the club at both the activities fairs this year.

DePiero has also been instrumental in creating a pre-game show for Bloomsburg sports, which is a big project NBS has been working on. DePiero attended meetings with various faculty members and helped organize the production of this show every step of the way.

DePiero’s favorite thing about NBS is that it fondly reminds him of his high school experiences. “It’s kind of a community-based thing of like-minded people, where they just want to create and tell stories,” he says.

DePiero feels that when you are a content creator, it is really hard to do everything by yourself, from planning to filming to editing.

Therefore, he says, “Having a team and people who like your idea and also want to work towards those goals, I think is really good, and that’s my favorite part about it.”

Boyertown to Bloomsburg

DePiero was born in Nashville, TN, where he lived until his family moved to Boyertown, PA, when he was 5 years old. In high school, he was very involved in the marching band, which DePiero said taught him, “When things suck, it’s usually because you are making something great. But it also taught me sometimes it just sucks.”

Originally, DePiero wanted to go into chemical engineering in high school, but he soon found out he was “terrible at chemistry.” Upon this realization, he decided to try out the video production program that was offered at his high school, since he knew he liked storytelling. He ended up really enjoying this program and decided to become a media and journalism major to continue telling stories.

“Media and journalism really just covers kind of the whole basket of what the modern storytelling is.”

DePiero’s Road to Presidency

There are two people whose influence has helped DePiero become who he is today. The first is his high school band teacher, Mr. Langdon, who taught him about hard work and “how it affects you and how it can affect other people around you.”

The other person is Mr. C, who was DePiero’s video production teacher in high school. DePiero recalls learning “silly information” like the parts of a tripod and Mr. C getting annoyed if something was done incorrectly during a production. While he didn’t enjoy this in high school, DePiero appreciated Mr. C and all he did, as the information he taught greatly benefited DePiero in college.

“So really, he taught me everything about video production and storytelling,” DePiero says.

This advanced knowledge was not just noticed by him upon his entrance into college. Brian Seely, a professor in the media and journalism program, also noticed it.

Seely explained that DePiero “decided to use his being ahead of the class to go further with it instead of just skate through, which I think is cool.”

When discussing DePiero and his biggest strengths, Seely pointed out that DePiero knows what he wants to do and that exudes confidence.

Seely states, “He is in the right career and he should be doing what he is doing, which I think is a strength in life in general, not just in school.”

DePiero’s passion and dedication to storytelling was noticed all throughout his high school and college career. In high school, he won three awards for the video production work he did, specifically his anchoring and weather comedy segment. He received an award from his school board for his excellence in telecommunications.

DePiero also received an award during the end-of-year Media and Journalism Department awards ceremony here at Bloomsburg last year for going above and beyond in the program. DePiero said this surprised him, and he was not at all expecting it. He said up until that point, he was questioning his abilities and if this is what he should be doing with his life.

However, DePiero realized that “Eventually, you gotta realize the hype around you,” and believe in your abilities as much as everyone else does.

Another thing DePiero is really proud of is the Bloomsburg Block Party 2022 video he and another NBS member created (see video here). He enjoyed this production so much because “It felt like a good, old, classic field production where you go run out there, film it. It was fun to film, it worked out how we planned it, which rarely happens.

Post-presidential Plans

One big thing DePiero is excited about in the future is the pre-game sports show that Bloomsburg NBS is currently in the process of creating. DePiero says this project “feels like real work,” since NBS will be working alongside BUSN, the official streaming network for Bloomsburg sports.

DePiero is also excited to see how NBS grows and develops in the coming year. He has been putting a lot of behind-the-scenes work in to get the club off the ground and expand it, and he is excited to see that continue in the future.

Addison Sondberg, a media and journalism major and member of Bloomsburg’s NBS chapter, describes DePiero saying, “Ryan is very passionate about what he does and he does well at motivating others within the club to work hard and also be passionate about their craft.”

Sondberg states that DePiero’s biggest strength is, “He will always get things done when they need to get done and he is very good at taking initiative.”

After DePiero graduates, he hopes to have a very hands-on producing or directing job, which would allow him to be on- and off-camera and, overall, very involved in productions. DePiero explains that while he wants to be the manager and have a more influential role in how the productions are put on, he isn’t saying that he never wants to be on camera again.

“Directing is fun, producing is fun. You know, it’s fun to find people who are good at their jobs and giving them the opportunity to do that,” he states.

DePiero’s dream job would be working for Warner Brothers, or a similar big movie conglomerate, as a producer.

He explains, “Warner Brothers is so big, they have all these properties and I think it would be good to have the opportunity to work in all these different kinds of projects, you know, like from a very serious movie to like cartoons.”

DePiero has already proven himself to be a passionate, educated, and hard-working student in the media and journalism department here at Bloomsburg. These traits will surely benefit him for the remainder of his college career and his future career as a video producer.